The Sox cannot hit. It's as simple as that. The defense has been poor so far but that is probably an aberration. The defense should regress to the mean and be a lot better the rest of the way. And don't forget, the pitching is quite good.

But the offense is awful. And Tyler Flowers, wow! He can't catch and he really can't hit.

Rick Hahn has to start re-tooling this offense. The Sox really have no alternative.

Just some more thoughts on tonight's farce. Might be a good discussion topic if a mod wants to move it into a new thread.

I think there are two main reasons why you keep seeing the same things over and over from players the past few years in particular (in no particular order)

1. The organization from the top down does not hold people responsible for results. Loyalty means more than performance...than winning. That not only includes players but the front office.

2. Ozzie tried, Robin has tried to get fundamentals taught and preached (granted I honestly don't think Ozzie cared much but in fact he did try from time to time). Yet the same players are making the same mistakes.

There's a reason why guys can't hit the cutoff man, execute bunts, work a hit and run, keep getting caught on the bases. It's because they are baseball-stupid. Not saying they aren't smart guys, not saying they don't have common sense, I'm saying in terms of the small things about the game, the details, they are simply baseball stupid.

And it's costing the Sox wins.

The players know that Robin has very little he can hold over them despite the stupid things they keep doing. Who is going to replace DeAza for example when the Sox don't have a leadoff man? Who is going to replace Ramirez and his half assed attitude when they don't have another shortstop??

The players know this...Robin has to know it and the fans have known about this stuff since 2009.

Plenty of blame to go around, absolutely....but ultimately the bottom line is ownership has to set the tone, be in charge, place demands...and right now ownership is not doing any of those things.

Alexei has been having a major brain cramp this entire season. Maybe a change of scenery might help him, preferably to a group of guys who won't put up with those mistakes. The problem is who do you get to replace him with? The big problem here is that trading these guys might sound good, but there would be nothing else to work with.

Sale told Alexei that even Jeter makes errors.
The difference is that in Baseball 101, Jeter gers a A, Alexei gets a D.
Lets start the rebuild by trading him.

__________________Coming up to bat for our White Sox is the Mighty Mite, Nelson Fox.

Because you listen, take offers, wait for buyers to distinguish themselves, and weigh your options. Players are going to be dealt. Patience. It's quite unfortunate Peavy hurt himself though. He would have fetched a nice return.

On the other hand, aren't Thornton and Crain worth more now to teams in need of bullpen health. You may miss out on a team being desperate around the trade deadline, but I'd rather try now for a more established minor leaguer or two to bring over. No matter what assets we try for when dispersing these guys, can we get a young catcher as a top priority?

As far as Dunn, how much of his contract will we have to eat for next year to trade him?

I finished working a 12 hour shift yesterday (7 am - 7 pm) and came home with a major headache.

Tuned in to watch the Sox game only to see another very disappointing loss.

Losing Ugly.

Looking for positives...kudos to Chris Sale for being the class act that he is.

__________________2014 - My compatriots: Adrian, Alexei, Jose, and Dayan; thanks for the pic, ChiSoxGal85!!!!October26 - Thank you to the 2005 World Series Champions Chicago White Sox!October26 - Twenty-SEVEN years ago, I married my husband on October 26. Since that day, we have been blessed with a wonderful family. Then, on October 26, 2005, when the baseball gods bestowed their good fortunes upon us, we saw the White Sox win the World Series. An incredibly talented team of grinders made every Sox fan's dream come true. My family and I celebrated with reckless abandon. And now, we look forward to that day when our White Sox will once again be World Series Champions!

I am willing to bet Hahn is listening to offers, but is not finding any to his liking.

On the other hand, do you really think it builds value for Hahn to call up 20 other GMs and ask, "What will you give me for Thornton and Crain?"

Impulsive aggression is part of the reason we are in this mess; KW would pull the trigger quickly and often overpay when trading prospects to acquire a veteran, and often settle for lousy prospects when dealing away a veteran.

The fact that Floyd and Peavy suffered injuries sucks, but sometimes "it's a big **** sandwich, and we all have to take a bite."

__________________The universe is the practical joke of the General at the expense of the Particular, quoth Frater Perdurabo, and laughed. The disciples nearest him wept, seeing the Universal Sorrow. Others laughed, seeing the Universal Joke. Others wept. Others laughed. Others wept because they couldn't see the Joke, and others laughed lest they should be thought not to see the Joke. But though FRATER laughed openly, he wept secretly; and really he neither laughed nor wept. Nor did he mean what he said.

After another dreadful loss last night, I have come to some conclusions:
1) The White Sox organization has no regard for Josh Phegley. If they did he would be playing on the White Sox now. Tyler Flowers looks totally overmatched at the plate. I think it was only right that Flowers be given a chance to make it this year. He's got his chance and he has flopped. I would think if the White Sox had a high opinion of Phegley, he would be given his chance now.
2) There's a nice article in todays Sun Times about Chris Sale. After losing last nights ugly game the article pointed out how Sale is not into the blame game. Some players blame their teammates for their losses. Sale could of blamed the White Sox offense or Ramirez for his loss last night, but he didn't. It's good to see that he's not a crybaby and he's not into the blame game. Some players have always been good at the blame game. One of them was Ron/Pizza Man/ Scab/Santo. It's good to see that Sale is not like that.
3) I'm just wondering if the real reason Hahn hasn't made any trades yet is because the other teams don't want most of the players Hahn is offering. Other than Sale, Rios and Reed I can't see any other team wanting anybody else the White Sox have. I would think that you probably wouldn't get much for Crain either simply because he's a free agent at the end of the season.

I would have to think he has done about all the preaching and practicing of fundamentals time allows. We don't really know what goes on behind closed doors either but I would bet even Robin has laid the hammer down on certain players on this team. The fact is they are just a big collection of washed up's and never will be's . The complete and utter failure to develop any kind of positional talent has come to roost. Not to get all sabermetric and all but I think it's clear now this team was lucky last year and has regressed to the mean this year. The Sox we saw choke the division away last year was the real Sox. Lot's of the same players.

After another dreadful loss last night, I have come to some conclusions:
1) The White Sox organization has no regard for Josh Phegley. If they did he would be playing on the White Sox now. Tyler Flowers looks totally overmatched at the plate. I think it was only right that Flowers be given a chance to make it this year. He's got his chance and he has flopped. I would think if the White Sox had a high opinion of Phegley, he would be given his chance now.
2) There's a nice article in todays Sun Times about Chris Sale. After losing last nights ugly game the article pointed out how Sale is not into the blame game. Some players blame their teammates for their losses. Sale could of blamed the White Sox offense or Ramirez for his loss last night, but he didn't. It's good to see that he's not a crybaby and he's not into the blame game. Some players have always been good at the blame game. One of them was Ron/Pizza Man/ Scab/Santo. It's good to see that Sale is not like that.
3) I'm just wondering if the real reason Hahn hasn't made any trades yet is because the other teams don't want most of the players Hahn is offering. Other than Sale, Rios and Reed I can't see any other team wanting anybody else the White Sox have. I would think that you probably wouldn't get much for Crain either simply because he's a free agent at the end of the season.

You get B prospects for these relievers with great numbers, free agent or not, if you try. We spent too many resources coddling goodwill. No giveaways of real players anymore, please.
As for Phegley, I'm hoping it's a matter of the Sox not wanting to rush him - I know he's older, but he's had a lot of DL time too. No use rushing a player up for this scrub team. Just like there's no point in pitching our young pitchers 100+ innings.